Meridian Arch (Indianapolis, Indiana)

 condominium, 2007_construction, 1906_construction, building/structure that has been renovated/restored/reconstructed

Meridian Arch was previously Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Known as the Meridian Street Church to parishioners, the church opened its doors on August 19, 1906 after a fire destroyed the church’s previous location at Meridian and New York in November, 1904. The church was built with Indiana limestone in the style of French Gothic architecture. The structure was built of random range ashlar, relieved with cut stone labels, quoins, weathering, traceries, finials and moulded courses. The main entrance which was located on Meridian Street had a large triple entrance with towers rising on each side to ninety-five feet.

The auditorium was sixty-four feet wide, seventy-eight feet in depth and fifty-one feet high. Its seating capacity was nine hundred. On either side of the auditorium are five massive windows, each twenty-nine feet high, and nine feet wide. Facing Meridian Street is a window twenty-five feet high and nineteen feet wide. All were made in opalescent and iridescent glass with green as the prevailing color. The ceiling of the auditorium is vaulted with penetrations forming large lunettes over the windows. Where the ribs of the vaulting and penetrations join are ornamental carved corbels.

As the city of Indianapolis grew, parishioners of the Meridian Street Church found they needed a new place of worship to accommodate their ever growing congregation. In 1947, Indiana Business College purchased the parcel and added offices and classrooms. By late 2002, the college determined they had outgrown the space and moved to a larger location in 2003, on East Washington Street. By the late-2000s, the building had been converted to condominiums.